5 Reasons To Watch The Billboard Music Awards

The Billboard Music Awards is always one of the biggest nights of the year for musicians. Last year Mariah Carey, Pitbull, Chris Brown, and Ed Sheeran graced the stage. Taylor Swift took home eight out of the 14 trophies she was nominated for. Usually, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but that’s not the case for these awards. We got five reasons you’ll be glued to your TV on May 22!

1. Canadians are leading in nominations.

The Weeknd leads with the 19 nominations in 16 categories. The R&B crooner is nominated twice in Top Hot 100 Songs and thrice in Top R&B Song. Justin Bieber is a far second with 12 nominations and Drake comes in third with 11 nominations. It might be a little chilly today, but Canada is burning up the charts!

2. Queen C is receiving the Icon award.

To continue the streak of Canadian excellence, Queen C AKA Celine Dion will be receiving the Icon Award this year. The Icon award was created in 2011 to honour musicians and music contributors. Dion had 17 albums on the Billboard 200 and has sold nearly 250 million albums. No other female artist has been able to knock her off the number one spot on the Adult Contemporary chart. With six Billboard Music Awards under her belt, it’s no surprise Queen C is receiving the Icon award.

3. Fifth Harmony are making their performance debut.

iHeartRadio MMVAs performers Fifth Harmony are making their Billboard Awards debut. Arguably, Fifth Harmony is the biggest girl group in the world since the ’90s/00s reign of Destiny’s Child. No other girl group has been able to score a top 10 Billboard Hot 100 hit in nearly a decade. Fifth Harmony will be performing their massive hit “Work From Home” featuring Ty Dolla $ign. But be warned, this performance might cause you to have a strong urge to time travel into the future to see them perform at iHeartRadio MMVAs sooner.

4. DNCE and Shawn Mendes are performing.

You might not be eating cake by the ocean, but you will be the life of the party if you bring cake to your friend’s Billboard celebration to watch DNCE and Shawn Mendes perform. The Joe Jonas-fronted band made waves with their hit song “Cake By the Ocean”, which is comfortably sitting at No. 2 on Billboard’s Pop Songs radio airplay chart. Canada’s sweetheart and past MMVAs performer Shawn Mendes will be gracing the stage, causing massive screams to erupt across the nation. No word as of yet what song he will be performing, but we hope “Stitches” is definitely in the running!

5. Ludacris and Ciara are hosting.

Whoever came up with the idea that Ludacris and Ciara should host together deserves a Nobel prize. These two hit makers have given us multiple tracks to dance through since the early 2000s. Who doesn’t sing “Goodies” and “Get Back” on a regular basis? As a team, Ludacris and Ciara have shared songs on the Billboard chart, with their hits “Oh” and “Ride”. This will be Ludacris’ third-straight year hosting the event. He only came back because he heard Ciara was hosting. Let’s hope they open the show with a throwback to their 2004 days.

BONUS: Britney. Spears. Will. Be. Performing.

Hold the corded phone. Britney Spears will be honoured with the Millennium Award this year and is planning to perform a medley of her chart-topping singles. Since Spears has roughly a gazillion hits, everyone will be tuning in to see which of our favourite songs the teen pop queen will grace us with. Perhaps another snake like her iconic “I’m a Slave 4 U” performance in 2001? Or how about a cameo from NSYNC like she did in 1999? Honestly, we’re just jealous of people who get to breathe the same air as Britney Spears.